The Japanese and Korean firms first announced in December that they were planning to consolidate their polyurethane material businesses, creating a global manufacturer with sales of $1.5 billion in the current fiscal year and around $2.0 billion by 2020.

Some 60,000 people living in northern Spain were urged to shut their windows and stay indoors on Thursday after a chemical explosion sent a large orange cloud floating above six towns in central Catalonia.

Chinese petrochemical company Yuhuang Chemical, Inc., a subsidiary of Shandong Yuhuang Chemical Co. Ltd., has chosen Air Liquide to supply oxygen for its $1.85 billion methanol production complex that will be built in St. James Parish, Louisiana.